Join your exclusive host and author of the No. 1 New York Times-bestselling OUTLANDER series, Diana Gabaldon, for a week on the Rhine River. With 35 million copies in print in 43 countries and 39 languages, Ms. Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER series has added to the storytelling tapestry of our lives while also inspiring travel with her literature. Her award-winning series on STARZ has brought to life the backdrops of Scotland, North America, France, Germany as well as dozens of destinations across the globe. Join us for this special departure with Diana Gabaldon, an inspiring storyteller sharing an inspired cruise–and daily excursions–with an intimate group of her fans. Your Avalon river cruise on the Rhine and Rhône rivers actually begins with a night in Marseille. From the shimmering waters of the Mediterranean, you’ll travel to Port-Saint-Louis to board your Avalon Suite Ship®. You’ll enjoy a guided walking tour of Arles-the city in Provence which inspired works by Vincent van Gogh. Cruise to the picturesque Avignon for a sightseeing in the fortress city, sail to the charming village of Viviers to see the Romanesque cathedral and historic Old Town. The Saône and Rhône Rivers meet in wonderful Lyon. Explore this city, joining a guided sightseeing tour. Join a transfer to Basel to start your Rhine River cruise. Enjoy a Black Forest excursion, before sailing to Strasbourg, France, and follow the Rhine on to Mainz and Rüdesheim to sail through the stunning views of the Rhine Gorge on your way to Koblenz. Cruise to the Rhineland’s capital city of Cologne and choose between a guided city walk of Cologne, and see its magnificent gothic cathedral, or a walking tour of the city’s notable Jewish heritage sites. Your cruise continues into the colorful city of Amsterdam, where you’ll explore the Netherland’s capital city with a canal cruise, before traveling via high-speed train to Paris, where your Monograms vacation package of 2 days each in Paris and London begins, including guided sightseeing and helpful onsite support from expert Local Hosts® in both these exciting cities.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam: A good time! That’s what you’ll have in this beautiful capital of the Netherlands, which feels at once like a 17-century city and a bustling modern metropolis. Famous for its canals and extraordinary museums, Amsterdam is also an intimate city with strangely alluring streets and squares.

Arles

Visit Arles, one of the Mediterrean towns featured in Van Gogh’s paintings.

Avignon

Located in Southeast France on the Rhone River. With a population near 90,000, it is a wine producing and manufacturing area. Famous Gothic church and many other historic sites are located in the city.

Cologne

Cologne’s great Gothic Cathedral is a magnificent reminder of man’s ability to create exquisite art from stone. Its lacy twin spires and wonderful stained glass never fail to impress. Miraculously, the Cathedral escaped wartime destruction, unlike most of the city. The Old Town attracts visitors with excellent restaurants, lively taverns, bars and boutiques. The pedestrian-only Hohe-Strasse is a shopper’s paradise, and Eau de Cologne toilet water, trademarked 4711 (the former address), is world famous.

London

Restless, enduring and wonderful, London is Europe’s largest city. And surely, if you have the choice to visit only two or three cities of the world in your lifetime, by all means make one of them London.

The Romans started it all. The city they developed was “the square mile,” – and Londoners still hunt for Roman relics in the Thames. History is everywhere you look in London, yet today the city is as modern and metropolitan as any city on earth.

By day, London is buzzing with the frenetic pace of commerce not even Dickens could have imagined. By night, the excitement and glitter of theatres, cinemas, pubs and restaurants beckons throngs of travellers from around the world. But there is another London, a peaceful London of cool museums, quiet tea rooms, immaculate gardens and hushed churches.

There is Royal London – ancient pageantry in a modern kingdom – with its palaces, pomp and precise manoeuvres at the Changing of the Guard. And there’s outrageous London, the urban gathering ground for Cockney pitchmen, “fringe” theatre and the city’s youth, with their own distinctive style.

London, this extraordinary city of contrasts, holds a stunning abundance of hidden-round-the-corner surprises. You owe it to yourself to explore them all. Here, then, is the London you’ll come to know and remember.

Lyon

At the merge of the Rhone and Saone rivers, Lyons is in east central France. Founded in 43 BC by Romans, it is famous for its silks.

Marseille

France’s second city and a major seaport, Marseille is an important industrial center and produces many food products. It is the oldest French town, settled by Phonecians, Greeks and annexed by Rome in 49 B.C. During the Crusades, Marseilles was a commercial center and transit port for the Holy Land. Taken by Charles I of Anjou, it was absorbed by Provence and bequeathed to the French crown in 1481. It grew as a port in the 19th century, with the opening of the Suez Canal and the conquest of Algeria. It is known for its great avenue, the Canebière, and for the Chateau d’If, a castle in its harbor.

Today Marseille is France’s largest port and is as warm as the sun on the south of France. An ethnic stew of French, Arabic, and Italian cultures, Marseille’s slightly risque charm appeals to those who love the spice of a real melting pot. Nearby is the gracious Aix-en-Province. At the home and studio of Paul Cezanne, you can revisit the birth of impressionism exactly a century ago.

Paris

As the French capital, Paris is the commercial, financial, and industrial focus of France, a major transportation hub, and a cultural and intellectual center of international renown. A beautiful city in which tourism is the main industry, Paris is cut by the Seine River. On its stately, formal right (northern) bank are many of the most fashionable streets and shops, and such landmarks as the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Louvre, and Sacré Coeur.

The left bank houses governmental offices and is the site of much of the city’s intellectual life. It is known for its old Latin Quarter and for such landmarks as the Sorbonne, the Luxembourg Palace, the Panthéon, and the modern Pompidou Center (see Beaubourg). The historic core of Paris is the Île de la Cité, a small island occupied in part by the Palais de Justice and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Above the city rises the Eiffel Tower. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (boroughs) and governed by a mayor.

A fishing village when it was conquered (52 B.C.) by Caesar, it became an important Roman town. It was a Merovingian capital in the 5th cent. and became the national capital with the accession (987) of Hugh Capet, count of Paris. It flowered as the center of medieval commerce and scholasticism but suffered severely during the Hundred Years War. Paris consistently displayed a rebellious and independent spirit, as in its resistance to Henry IV (1589-93); the first Fronde (1648-49); the revolutions of 1789, 1830, and 1848; and the Commune of Paris (1871). During World War II it was occupied (1940-44) by the Germans but was relatively undamaged.

Rüdesheim

Rüdesheim is a small, very quaint “Bavarian” village in Germany on the Rhine River. Points of interest include the Asbach Brandy Distillery, Cable-car to Niederwald Monument, Medieval Museum of Torture, a Falconry and many wine festivals throughout the year.

Strasbourg

The ancient capital of Alsace it is located in the northeast corner of France near the border with Germany. The city has exchanged hands between France and Germany during the World Wars. It is considered to be at the “crossroads” of Europe and is the home of the European Parliment. Visit the Palais Rohan, home of many famous paintings; La Petite France with its ancient structures; the famous Church of St. Thomas; and the Cathedral of Notre Dame, built in 1439 and the largest building of its type in the World.

Prices are per person, land or cruise only, based on double occupancy. Offer subject to availability and change without notice. Some restrictions may apply. Please ask us for details.

Charges not included in the land vacation price: airfare to and from the start of your vacation; airline baggage fees including checked and/or excess baggage fees; Federal inspection fees for the Federal U.S. Customs and Immigrations; agricultural tax; other per person taxes imposed by government entities; applicable cruise taxes, fees, fares and port charges; passports; visas and vaccinations; transfers; tips to your Tour or Cruise Director, Local Host, driver, Local Guides, and/or ships’ crew; gratuities on ferries, trains, and cruise ships; laundry; telephone; minibar; alcohol, beverages, and food outside of the contracted menu as presented at a hotel or restaurant (these extra items will be billed to you before leaving the hotel, ship, or restaurant); additional excursions and activities not listed as ‘included’ in the itinerary; porterage at airports or train stations; Travel Protection premiums; and all other items of a personal nature.

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